Retail is doing it all wrong!

I’ve been reading about Customer Service being the ‘New Marketing.’ In my opinion, the idea of giving customers a great retail experience isn’t ‘new’ at all. I’m unsure of why it’s so commonly overlooked.

It’s the simplest and most effective way to increase business and profitability. It doesn’t cost anything, makes your employees passionate and stay around longer and overall establishes an incredible culture.

Great customer service solves retail problems and make people happier. I’ve even written a blog about customer service previously: Hello, I like you.

These are my favourite establishments that truly take good customer service on board:

The Coffee Place
There’s a little coffee shop in town that everyone I know adores. The staff know all customers by name and USE IT. They are friendly and welcoming, play great music and always have a tray of complimentary sweets to sample. There is an air of generosity in that store, never making you feel like they are just too busy for you to be in there. The product is always consistent and of the highest quality every single time without compromise.

The Breakfast Stop
There’s also a wonderful cafe I visit regularly for breakfast. The place is packed every single weekend and it’s often hard to find a carpark. Again, the staff are friendly. You can tell they genuinely want to be there. The servings are always very generous and they have stayed that way. They legitimately WANT to give you a great experience and have never, ever deferred from the culture they created. Business is booming because this place is consistent!It’s not rocket science, it’s just great service.

The Clothing Store
Another example is a retail clothing store I love to buy from that always has two staff members rostered on. While it may be costing them slightly more in wages, there’s always someone to help customers in need. This service has created an incredible store that people trust. They truly have the long term health of the business in mind.

The Foodie Experience
One last food establishment that I must commend holds onto their staff for YEARS. In fact, they have many of their foundation staff around 8 years after first opening their doors. Facebook and Instagram are regularly filled with photos of their wonderful staff beach picnics and celebrations. They recently attended an awards ceremony for small businesses and took their entire team which would be well over 30 people. The team are all great friends and people are fighting to work there. As a customer, this shows through 100%. It’s near impossible to book there at short notice. The culture is wonderful.

So many places compromise on service when it’s the places that shine who are adored. Put effort into your staffing and make sure your customers leave satisfied every single time.

Watch your business boom.